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overview
Lesson 1 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 1 | ode to a view
activity | the ode
The ode is a poem of praise. Originally a musical form, the ode
is a lyrical poem that dates back to Greek choral songs that were
sung and danced at public events and celebrations. In more contemporary
poetic genres, the ode is recognized as a written form of tribute
without specified rhyming, meter or tempo. The term ode can also
be presented in other media and materials, such as a visual form
of praise that refers to a particular subject or idea. Ask your
students to research the ode as a literary form (see links below)
and look at a range of odes in traditional poetic and lyrical forms,
such as John Keats' “To
Autumn” and “Ode
to a Nightingale,” as well as Percy
Blysshe Shelley's “Ode
to a Skylark.”
Brainstorm a list of objects and images from the history of art
that might also serve as odes, such as Islamic miniatures and illuminated
texts, portraits of mythic figures, such as Botticelli's
“Birth
of Venus,” representations of rulers like Egyptian
pharoahs, or religious objects such as statues of Buddha or Oceanic
ancestral figures. What are the subjects of these visual odes and
what might the circumstances be for the praise they are offering?
What are the ways that the artist conveys his or her love or respect
for the object or idea they are addressing? What kinds of figurative
language or imagery are used? Is there a difference between memorializing
a subject and creating an ode to it? Is choosing something as a
worthy subject enough to make an artwork an ode to that subject?
Take your class outside so that students may practice writing odes
inspired by a variety of subjects found in nature. Ask your students
to fill a few pages of their sketchbooks with poems and sketches
dedicated to their chosen subjects, and to then write down any similarly
themed works from literature or the art world, or references from
visual culture (ads, TV, movies, etc.) that they might associate
with the subject. How is their work reflective of their personal
experiences with the subject? How does it reflect the idea of the
subject that has been socially constructed through previous representations?
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the next activity for this lesson
Ode to the Inanimate
The work of Vija Celmins and Hiroshi
Sugimoto is introduced as a basis for discussing visual odes
to inanimate objects. Students will read Keats' “Ode to a
Grecian Urn” and pay homage to an inanimate object by animating
it.
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